Ch. 2 Poll: Likud Beytenu dips to 33 mandates

Likud Beytenu would win 33 seats if elections were held today, according to a Channel 2 poll conducted by Dr. Mina Tzemach of the Dahaf Institute which was published on Tuesday.

The Labor Party would win 17 mandates according to the poll, followed by Bayit Yehudi with 13 mandates. Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, The Tzipi Livni Movement and Shas would all receive 11 mandates, the poll found.

The right-wing and religious parties bloc would win 65 mandates and the Center-Left and Arab parties bloc would win 55 seats, according to the poll.

The poll also found that voters prefer that Ehud Barak (49%) remain defense minister over Moshe Ya'alon (27%) and that Tzipi Livni (58%) be foreign minister over Avigdor Liberman (33%). Those polled also preferred that current Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz retain his position (41%) over Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich (29%).